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Member since 1/26/11
Posts: 7
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Posted on: 1/26/11 11:38 AM ET
Hello new to PR. This site seems too good to be true. I'm hoping its not hard to navigate. But I surely am very excited to be talking to fellow sewers. I always have questions. Thanking you in advance for your help! barbaraparm
  
Member since 7/27/05
Posts: 3783
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Posted on: 1/26/11 12:11 PM ET
Welcome!

Have some fun roaming around the pattern reviews, sewing machine reviews, and this message board. Personally, I love hitting the "active topics" button to see what people are talking about.

JEF

ETA: How long have you been sewing? What sort of stuff do you make?
-- Edited on 1/26/11 12:11 PM --
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"The trouble with quotes on the Internet is that you can never know if they are genuine." --Abraham Lincoln
  
Member since 1/20/10
Posts: 3195
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Posted on: 1/26/11 12:22 PM ET
Welcome Barbara! And it's true - this site is real, and it's a good one! A year after discovering it, I still feel very lucky with all I've learned here. :)

I agree with JEF that selecting "Active Topics" is a good way to keep up on the topics being covered currently. Wander around all of the links on the Home page & the left side bar (that will keep you busy for a few months), and read those reviews!
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http://jillybejoyful.blogspot.com/
a blog about creativity, sewing, vintage sewing machines, and...... life :)
  
Member since 5/19/06
Posts: 1771
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Posted on: 1/26/11 4:52 PM ET
Welcome!

Lots of free advice and information here. I was a member for 3 years before I decided to pay for the FoPR membership. The discount I got for online classes and patterns that I can't find locally made the membership pay for itself.

I, too, tend to look at the active topics link, or the active topics with miscellaneous link.

The review gallery is great to see what people are making. You can enter your pattern number (no company name) in the find box at the top left of your screen (above all the links to the left) to see what people have to say about it before you make or buy a pattern. Very helpful! You can also use that box to find other things: check the drop-down menu to indicate where you want the find function to look. Have a machine or book or class you want to know about before you commit? Check here first.

The Search Board link (at far right of the links above the body of the message board) is a great place to start when you have a question. Chances are that someone has asked before you, and there will be a prior discussion(s) that you can find before posting a new thread. The only problem I've has with that is that you must enter at least 4 characters, so looking up ham or YLI or bra is not possible.

One last thing: Warning!! This Community Enables Badly/Baldly/without shame of any kind! You might think you are content with your equipment and the next thing you know, you have to have another machine for serging or coverstitch or embroidery or you want to get something vintage that will never die. (Someone coined the term SMAD: Sewing Machine Acquisition Disorder after a concentration of posts about buying vintage machines, and someone else posted a funny thread about how evil PR members were because of the effects that reading PR had on her finances.) Your sewing book and DVD collection grows or gets started. You discover an infinite variety of fabrics, threads, pattern companies (look at pattern reviews and see how many companies Deepika has listed for narrowing your search), cool notions, pressing equipment, and websites to buy from. There is an entire thread for posting when pattern sales are happening. PR members have bought sale patterns and shipped them to members in Australia so that our members there can get the patterns less expensively (even after shipping costs). You might find that you have to get a digital camera so you can post pictures of your projects or to show the problems you have when you seek help (Very Useful for getting a good fit or solving problems that come up as you make a garment!). You take up quilting or knitting or machine embroidery or pattern drafting or couture techniques. You decide to take a long weekend and travel to the next PR Weekend or a hands-on workshop with one of the sewing gurus Deepika has coerced to put up with a group of sewing enthusiasts (they love us and we love them!). You take extra luggage on your vacation so that you can bring back fabric from the independent fabric shops where you visit.

I could go on, but I think you've got the message. You have been warned...
-- Edited on 1/26/11 5:14 PM --
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Fictionfan
  
Member since 8/29/06
Posts: 5755
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Posted on: 1/26/11 6:15 PM ET
In reply to Barbaraparm
Welcome to PR. Glad to "meet" you!
  
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